Charlotte E Animation
Vertical Slice
Full Group Project
The Brief
For this project, our class will be working as a group to make a vertical slice for a game. We are creating a new IP for a game in any genre where we are working for Nintendo. To begin we will brainstorm a rough outline for our game before assigning roles and beginning visual and contextual research into games, environments, audiences and more that align with our concept. After this research we will plan out our game more and work on different components for the vertical slice such as story, character design, environment design, game mechanics, UI design, animation, items, creature design and more.
Initial Research and Planning
To begin our planning, we made a group milanote where we compiled ideas on group roles, the game's themes, studio and game names and scheduling. The initial confirmed themes are having multiple environments, a focus on underwater places, having some little creatures and the game play focusing on exploration and adventure. I have been assigned as team leader and therefore have been organizing ideas for everyone's initial research and making mood boards. In our initial mood board, there is a lot of focus on vibrant environments and unique sea creatures and plants. These inspirations have come from real life and video games such as Pokemon, Gris and Slime Rancher. For our first topic of research, we are looking at video games that align with our themes or include interesting environment and creature designs. We also made plans to do some primary research including images and surveys about what potential audience's might like. For my first research topic, I am going to look at Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 since it has a wide variety of landscapes and unique enemy design then after I have looked at that I will evaluate what other topics need to be researched in the group.
In this time I also looked at my feedback from my previous project so that I can see what to improve this time round. I got a distinction on my last project so I know to keep going with my amount and content of research but I did get the feedback to show more of my process and ideas in the initial sketching stage. So for this project, I am going to make an effort with the designs to show everything that I do and try out some new techniques aside from just pencil sketches and digital drawings. I also was asked to show more level design concepts so if level design is a topic we decide to look at I will get involved with making those plans to try and improve on my previous work.
Visual and Contextual Research: Video Games
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a rpg developed by Sandfall Interactive. It follows the members of Expedition 33 on their journey to kill the Paintress, so she can no longer paint death in their city Lumiere. You battle a variety of unique enemies across different environments inspired by Belle Époque France in turn-based combat with real-time mechanics. Since we are focusing on underwater areas, I want to look into the flying waters zone and enemies along with the over world map visuals and interactions with water. Flying waters is the second area you visit on the
continent and has a mysterious atmosphere where you appear to be walking along the bottom of the ocean. The below images were created by Carla Devèze, the head environment artist at Sandfall. The atmosphere of this level is created by a mixture of mysterious and magical natural effects and the old ruins of the city coming together. I think the fantasy twist that all the environments have works very well with this level, especially in the shapes and light. All the different shapes of coral and seaweed dance around the blue ocean colour and the small lamps and lights that guide the player through the level to create an almost starry look. This highlights the otherworldly magical atmosphere that the entire continent has. Additionally, the fractured boats, floating chains and suspended ruins really sell the fact that this is supposed to be under the sea, although you aren't, since you are able to walk naturally across the sea floor and breathe the air normally, further creating this unnatural and magical atmosphere. There are also regular sea creatures swimming around right above your head throughout the level, including whales, sharks, schools of fish and dolphins. The natural, colourful plant life, subtle animations that make it look like water is flowing around and mixture of animals that surround the environment while the characters exist in the space as if they are just on land, makes for a mystical and vibrant atmosphere throughout the level.
In regards to game design, the levels in the game have no maps or obvious indicators as to where to go, so it fully relies on the environment design to guide the player. This level does this by carving out paths in the coral with vibrant sea grass, leaving pathways that previous expeditions have left with hooks and grapple points, using the ruined landscape of Old Lumiere's buildings and lanterns as well as positioning enemies across the route you are meant to take. The game also rewards you for exploring the levels, as off the beaten path you can find colour of lumina, chroma and pictos - items that give you new abilities or currency to spend. I really like this way of guiding the player as it makes you feel like you are actually exploring this place for the first time - you are the expeditioner, not just the player controlling the expeditioner. The destroyed and abandoned buildings come from an event in the world called The Fracture, when Lumiere split apart into the place the protagonists came from, separated from the continent by the Paintress. The remaining buildings on the continent have been claimed by the magical, twisted environment. The remains of previous expeditions and the ruins of Old Lumiere add to the overgrown, fractured landscape of the continent and the strange unnatural mood of Flying Waters.
Another aspect of the game I wanted to look at was the overworld map. This area shows the entire continent and is a place where the player can set up camp to upgrade weapons and skills, talk to other expeditioners, find extra levels outside of the ones the main story directs you to, find items, fight enemies and travel freely. I really like the vastness and amount of places to explore on a map like this as you are able to fly, run and swim across the world to travel to each area. Each level is also condensed to a small island that shows the environment within it so have a sense of whats inside. My favourite parts of the map are the giant boss enemies that stand guard of certain areas, such as the Sprong standing in the ocean or Serpenphare flying in the sky above Flying Waters. These creatures indicate the scale of the world and how huge and unnatural the enemies - named Nevrons - and the changed landscape are. I next want to look at the Nevron designs from Flying Waters as well as some of the bosses that can be found around the continent that fit with the watery theme.
As I said previously, the common enemies you meet in the game are called Nevrons, and are dangerous creations of the Paintress, there to drive expeditioners away from her monolith or kill them. These enemies from flying waters and the over world map were designed by Alan Reynaud, the games lead character artist. I want to look at these designs as I think they could be good inspiration for underwater enemies or mysterious, looming creatures.
In flying waters, the enemies all blend in with their environment in regards to the red and blue colours as well as their bodies being covered in coral and other ocean plants. Each have their own unique skill set and animations that match their appearances well. For example the Bourgeon (top left) is a huge creature that stalks the level and uses its gaping mouth to inhale characters wheres the more airy Demineur (middle left) floats around while dodging attacks and leading a long chain attached to an explosive mine that can be used against the players or free shot at to greatly injure it. The animations during combat are very dynamic, the camera angle shifts, the screen changes to indicate the weight or swiftness of the attack and the nevron's body movements are exaggerated and threatening.
For the boss nevron's of the over world, I wanted to look at the Serpenphare and Sprong as they also have similar features like the coral and some water damage on their metal parts. I find in these enemies you can see the Belle Époque influences more in the metallic colours, lighting and shapes, making them fit the theme across the game of the fantasy meeting the man made. I also really like the flying snake or eel appearance of the Serpenphare. These monsters being so huge and looming shows how dangerous they are and shows the unnatural scale of the world.
Additionally, some of the nevrons have neon glowing strips of colour across their body. This is utilised further in chromatic nevrons, a variety of enemy that takes the regular design and adds the bright colours, indicating they are much stronger and more dangerous. The colours can also correlate to the elemental damage type used in its chromatic attacks. This reminds me of bioluminescence, which Rhia is researching. This could be a way to implement that into the game design rather than just a visual element by having the lights indicate that an enemy is more dangerous, or the opposite. The way Expedition 33 shows friendly versions are through white nevrons, which are nevrons who have lost their connection to the Paintress and have different goals. Instead of fighting when you meet them they can ask for you to do them favors, partake in a parrying or dodging mini game or collecting something for them. The other friendly creatures in the game are the Gestrals, who are relaxed wooden people who look like paintbrushes with a humanoid shaped body. They are shown as different to the nevrons through their more laid back stance, talking to the player in weird voices and running around their village doing strange things like spinning and fighting each other. Having a mix of friendly, neutral and hostile creatures that have the cute and monstrous contrast between each other could be something we include in our game.
From this research, some ideas I plan to present to the group are having the environments have some of that unnatural and magical energy with features like the floating ruins, flowing chains and old remains built into the walls. I will also propose having some buildings and lights under there, if that is through ruins, monuments, an area above water or a current civilization that exists under the sea depending on what narrative we come up with. In regards to creature design, including the features like coral, barnacles, tentacles, sea grass and water damage to enemies could be interesting and thematic. We could also link the bioluminescence in the way I mentioned and use the contrast of dark enemy colours with the bright highlights to creating ominous and menacing appearances. After this research, I want to look more into older architecture styles and ways we could incorporate that into the environments like through ancient ruins or places the character goes. I will look at a few more games as well as this in real life.
Gris
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Gris is a platform-adventure game developed by Nomada Studio that follows the titular character, a young girl lost in her own world. She journeys through a watercolour landscape representing her sorrow and grief, with her dress that grants her more abilities to navigate this world. I wanted to look at the visuals for this game due to the buildings throughout, the water level and unique watercolour like art style. The game play is calm and has no danger or death with the main mechanics being platforming, light puzzles and optional skill-based challenges. There is almost
no text or guidelines, with controls displayed through icons and the story unveiling itself through the dreamy visuals and score. These images come from the fourth and fifth chapters of the game, representing the corresponding stages of grief. I picked these two levels as I love the colours and buildings seen throughout. The art is a mixture of curvy and soft with the natural elements but is contradicted by the geometric and symmetrical architecture. The games creative director, Conrad Roset, has said his style is strongly influenced by expressionism, prioritising the mood over the technicality and realism of the scene. In regards to the architecture, there is a mixture of ruined buildings, pillared platforming sections, cave pathways monuments and statues that illuminate the otherwise barren and old natural landscape of this world.
In the fourth chapter, the focal buildings are lit up in streaks of blue light and have even and solid line work but with curved lines and lots of movement. My favourite monument in the level is the huge falling statue as it has lots of movement in the hair and body while still fitting in with the evenness of the rest of the level and showing how it is old and ruined. This level also contains the water sections which are used as landing spots after large drops, sections to swim through or a border around a central point. I really like the reflections and mistiness of the water as well as the subtle wavy movement it has. The colour of the level is a monochromatic blue but the water and focal points still stand out thanks to the brightness of it, the lighting and the composition with the water surrounding and framing monuments.
Although not water based, I also wanted to look at the fifth chapter because of the natural elements, shapes and colours. In this level, you explore the lush and colourful temple by chasing colourful birds, following golden and pink lights and chasing fireflies. I really like the mix of foliage throughout the level with the different shapes, colours and straightness in which it falls. The nature looks wild and overgrown but also fits in with the environment due to it being very geometric and framing the pillars. I also really like the circular shapes used in this level, in both the architecture and visual effects and Gris completes puzzles. The cloudy backdrop and solid streaks of bright light create even more of a peaceful atmosphere in the level. This whole environment feels more calm and alive than the rest of the game, representing how she has reached peace and acceptance in the last leg of her journey.
After this research, I want to present a few visual ideas to the group. I am focusing on the architecture here and I think the game is a unique example of the style of ruins and monuments we could use if there are any places that need them underwater. The movement, flowing but geometric shapes and natural elements like plants and bugs create a magical, calm and daunting atmosphere when the small character is faced with such huge structures. I will also look at the lighting style as there is lots of layering and contrast between the bright and dark sections that I think would work well for a deep ocean environment, especially the blues and sky lighting of chapter four. Next, I want to look at more buildings in real life and ruins from history as well as looking at a game for some mechanics and themes that could work well for some of the groups basic ideas.
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
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Lovers in a Dangerous​​​​​​​​​​ Spacetime is a one to four player couch co-op space shooter game developed by Asteroid Base. The players - or lovers - must pilot their spaceship to save kidnapped space bunnies after an error in the XOXO matrix breaks the Ardor Reactor, allowing Anti-Love to invade the loving universe. The bunnies are trapped across different planets and must be freed for you to reopen heart portals and defeat Anti-Love. ​I wanted to look at this game because one of our ideas has the player defeating
monsters to save smaller creatures and this game fits that game play loop. Additionally, since the game is set in space, there are lots of parallels between that and the ocean and it could be helpful to look at the mechanics of Lovers for the game design of our project. The game has a neon and simplistic art style with enemy designs like robotic bugs, snappy fish, sentient tanks and giant, electronic personifications of constellations. The game play consists of frantic ship navigation with several different stations on the ship having to be manned such as: up to four turrets, shields, the engine, map and cannon. These stations can be controlled by one player at a time so you have to think quickly about which location to man to prioritise your survival. You can also collect space gems to slot into the stations, granting new abilities like spikes on the shields and laser cannons. Multiple gems can be combined to make a wide range of combinations and different ways to play. Each level has a randomised layout of planets and challenges for you to navigate through with environmental effects like exploding stars, underwater currents, varying gravity levels and toxic atmospheres. The goal of the level is to control your ship to find space bunnies, the kidnapped citizens of your universe, which leads you to cages where you have to fight waves of enemies to free them. Enemies will continuously target your ship when they spot you with abilities like projectiles, biting the ship, exploding themselves and bashing into it. The enemies of each planet look different as there are several environments you can see, like caves, grassy health zones, underwater passages, volcanic pits and just wide open space. Space bunnies can be found by chance as you explore, by collecting alerts for your map out in space or previously saved bunnies might know the route to some others. Each level requires a certain amount of bunnies to be saved to unlock the heart portal and complete the level. Additionally, bunnies are needed to unlock the four constellations, boss levels that each contain a piece of the broken Ardor Reactor. Taking on these boss enemies has you fighting several waves of enemies, harsh environmental effects and the boss creature itself in a very faced paced battle, but completing all four brings you to the end of the game where you can defeat Anti-Love by repairing the reactor and rescuing all the other space bunnies.
I think some of the game play and level layouts from the game could be helpful for an underwater concept. Firstly, the mix of vast areas of empty space and lush populated planets could be reflected in our environments, maybe by having a dark and ominous space be vast and an area full of sea life and plants to be more calm, or filled with enemies. The environmental challenges can also be implemented like having an area of pollution like the toxic atmosphere or a hard to travel through whirlpool like the underwater zones. The final thing I think could be drawn on is the ship and having different stations to man. If we were to include something like a submarine I think it could be a bit more sophisticated since we aren't making a fast-paced multiplayer game, but having multiple station like maps, piloting, shields and guns could be a fun way to travel between areas rather than it just happening or pressing a button. ​
From this research, I want to present to my group ideas about how we could take space tropes and use them in an underwater setting. Whether that is through enemy and creature locations to create areas of tension and relaxation, a mix of different environments with natural challenges or the vessel the player would navigate through the ocean with. Visually, this game is quite fun so inspiration could be taken from the bunnies and love universe people for creature designs but I think it will be less relevant. Now I've looked at these games, a task that we are all doing after our research is writing a paragraph summary of everything we looked at to present to the rest of the group so I will write those for my games next before moving on to architecture.
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Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Summary:
Expedition 33 is a turn-based rpg set in a fantasy France. I looked at the environments and enemies of the Flying Waters level, a magical underwater looking landscape that the players walk through. I think we can take inspiration from some of the environmental features like the floating chains and ruins, corals, remains built into the walls and watery animations to make a magical feeling. Having a mix of areas with buildings or ruins, mysterious dark spaces and coral reefs can create some more variation in the ocean. In the environments, there is also lots of cues to direct the player without using mini maps or big checkpoints that feel unnatural. In the game they use pathways, magical lanterns, coral outcroppings, scuffed walls and the bodies of previous expeditioners to imply the path forward indirectly. For creature design, I think the Nevrons would be good inspiration for some enemy designs visually - coral, barnacles, different frames, weaponry, attacks - as well as using these visual elements to indicate danger levels like how the bioluminescent ones - chromatic nevrons - are more dangerous versions of enemies. Having contrast with the bright corals on the dark and menacing enemies could make them seem more unsuspecting and blend in with their environment.
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Gris Summary:
Gris is ​a platform-adventure game that follows Gris, a girl in her own watercolour world of grief. I really like the architecture and monuments in this game and think their designs could be applied to any underwater ruins or statues we could include in our game. It uses a mix of geometric shapes and natural curves and weathering to imply how huge and old these focal points are. I also really like the colours in the final 2 levels that are a monochromatic blue then a mix of blue buildings with colourful plant life. For game design, making something like a huge monument or big tree could serve as a weenie or focal point for certain levels. The atmosphere is also really magical with the layering and art style making it both calming and daunting as everything around you is so big, similar to how the ocean could be perceived.
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Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime Summary:
Lovers is a one to four player couch co-op space shooter, where Anti-Love has invaded the universe after the heart shaped Ardor Reactor is broken. Your job is to travel across space, fight off the forces of Anti-Love and free captured space bunnies from their prisons. I wanted to look at a space game due to the parallels to the ocean and some mechanics we could implement or take inspiration from. Firstly, there are many environmental challenges from the different planet's environments like toxic atmospheres which we could look at implementing, maybe with polluted areas or whirlpools that force the player to strategise. The main game play mechanic is navigating your spaceship with lots of different stations like turrets, cannons, shields, map and engine. We could reflect this in our game if we have a submarine or some other vehicle to make travel more engaging. Finally, the level layouts with areas of calm and tension shown through vast, empty areas of space, lush health planets and dangerous monster filled caves could be an inspiration for level layouts, creating a sense of danger and the pacing of a level. There game goes very quickly from calm to stressful as you have to navigate controlling your ship, fighting off enemies and defending bunnies.
Visual and Contextual Research:
Architecture and Ruins
For this, I want to look at some examples of ruins or buildings that are underwater in the real world, so that we can see how they are visually and how they came to be that way as inspiration for any man-made structures in the ocean in our game. I want to look at a few different examples and analyse for anything visually interesting as well as their history and how we could apply those to our game if we include any ruined areas
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Pavlopetri - This is the oldest known submerged city in the world, expected to be 5000 years old. It is found in Vatika Bay, off the Southern coast of Peloponnese in Greece. It was discovered in 1967 and was originally thought to be dated to the end of the Bronze Age, around 1600 BC but evidence showed artifacts dating back to 3500 BC, with the submersion predicted to have taken place around 1000 BC as a result of earthquakes in the area. Interestingly, although eroded over time, there is a clear town plan including streets, buildings, roads and tombs, which is very unique for ruins, especially the oldest known site. Visually, it is just the walls of a town, but the fact it is so well preserved is unique. We could take this premise for our game as the oldest being the most untouched makes you wonder what other places like this haven't been discovered.
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Shicheng - Also known as the Lion City, this city dates back to the Han Dynasty from around 25 to 200 CE and is submerged under Qiandao Lake in the Zhejiang province of China. In 1959, it was flooded during a project to make a lake that would power a hydroelectric station. It was rediscovered by the government 40 years later and was found to be very well preserved. There are over 250 carved archways, streets, statues and stonework's that are still in very good condition as a result of the deep and clean water. I think a well preserved city like this would be one of the best things to take inspiration from for our game, especially the monuments, archways and intricate details as it provides more visual interest than just some smashed up walls and implies the area is important and shows the influence people had there.
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Baiae - This was an ancient Roman resort city, with buildings dating to 100 BC, in the Gulf of Naples, Italy. Earthquakes and volcanic activity caused lots of the city to sink, although plenty is still above ground and the city has many visitors looking to dive in the ruins. I find the most interesting part of these ruins to be the decorations and statues that have been found on the seabed. There are decorations such as a recreation of the Odyssey, figures of Dionysus and other mythological figures. Using this concept in our game to indicate some history of the world, the beliefs of the people who made the area and the ruins' age, could be interesting to explore for narrative and worldbuilding.
After looking at these, they all have different features that would make for different style ruins but I think what can be taken from all of them is that the architecture can be used to indicate what the people who made the area are like, their beliefs, the resources they had and also how the surrounding underwater environment acts, if its full of life, how clean it is and how prone to erosion the area is. These are the things we would have to think about for our game if we decided to include any ruined areas and buildings. Since these paragraphs are easily readable, I will use them as my group summary, but now we all need to present our research to each other and decide where our game direction will go and begin making visuals.
Summary and Initial Designs
We have now had another group meeting where we looked at our research and combined the things we liked to make our games concept and assign roles as we go into the designing stage. Our end game concept is a choice based narrative game where you are a scientist working for a large company looking to understand how to create new life from other creatures. You and your team live on an island and have begun to notice the sea levels rising, and it is your job to descend into the depth to discover what is causing it, eventually finding out that the waste from your experiments has caused a great mutant creature to form in the depths. The work I am doing includes environment design for the first two underwater areas (a coral reef and mermaid city), UI designs such as health bars, stat screens and scientific machinery interfaces, layouts for controllers and the title and splash screens. To start, I made mood boards for the environments I am going to make, these are inspired by fruiteger aero style and concept art of underwater cities, as well as a mood board for UI, layouts and title screen designs that look futuristic or have an interesting layout.
Here I made some initial sketches for environments and UI designs. Firstly, I made some coloured pencil pieces of scenes and individual plant designs for the first coral reef level. Since this level is near the surface, I also wanted to practice drawing the still and rippled water that would be in this area so I did a digital sketch of that texture. For my initial interface designs, I took inspiration from my research into Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime as well as Emmy's visual analysis on Dispatch as they both have the techy and futuristic aesthetic. I made these digitally so I could use bright colours and sharp geometric shapes to design some boxes and resource indicators. I also look at some fonts that could suit the futuristic design style. Finally, I did some pencil sketches and annotations for some details in the mermaid city. I designed some architecture styles, monuments, markets, urban details, neighbourhood layouts and entrances to the lower levels of the game. I was inspired by my research on Gris and ruins to make the very geometric and arched buildings in the more refined buildings and the more mismatched look of the main town and market. I also wanted to make some ocean themed details so took inspiration from Rhia and Gracie's research on games with sea creatures like Biolum and Pokémon to design details like the shell rooves and houses, the jelly fish lamps and trident pillars.
I am not going to do any title and splash screen designs or controller layouts yet since for those I need to get designs from the rest of the group and talk more about game design with them. Though with what I have now, I am going to start by making my final designs for both of the environments that I have looked at.
Environment Design
To start my environment design, I wanted to make some coral designs as if they were assets to be used in a video game. For this process, I looked at Emmy's research into making effective environmental concept art and used tips such as working from shapes and silhouette rather that sketch and drawing in greyscale first. I made 3 coral types like this - a seaweed one, tube and a spreading one. I then added saturated colours using gradient maps and experimented with a mix that matched the fruiteger style the group liked. I then went into layering them to see how they could be displayed in a game environment. I made sure to annotate this to follow Emmy's advice from her research. From this, I want to create a more illustrative piece of the coral reef where I use these coral designs and some more that I can come up with to make a scene.
For this piece, I used gouache style brushes from the program I was using to give it a painterly look. I took from my designs I made and spacing tips I learnt from making the assets to make a varied layout where the colours and shapes contrast each other throughout, so all the coral stands out. I added some more greenery to add more interest on the dark rocks but other than that I stuck to the bright colours. To make the scene feel more complete, I took my water surface practice from my initial designs and made it more fluid and blue toned to show the surface here, as well as adding some bubbles and gradient to the water for more ocean effects. Lastly I added some fish off in the distance to fill the empty space there. I did try sketching first this time but I largely ignored it besides the rock shapes and went back to focusing on form instead of lines like I did originally. Next, I am going to try some different styles to make some concept art for the mermaid city.
For the mermaid city, I want to make a piece for the gateway to the lower levels, and the more central city market. I started with the gateway and used my initial design of the more rigid gate but made it a bit more lit up so it wasn't as ominous. I set the scene at night so that the yellow lights would stand out amongst the blue and add to the mood of past the gate being dangerous and unknown compared to the brightly lit city. I wanted to try a different approach when making this environment so I did line art instead of my usual lineless style I like to use for them. I liked having everything mapped out but felt it limited me in the amount of detail I could add without it looking overdone. My favourite part is adding the shadows and details so it didn't feel as fun for me to do it this way, so for the market I will likely go back to my usual approach. For this scene, I took inspiration from my research on Gris with the geometric architecture as well as Red's visual research on slime rancher, looking at the pastel colours and soft shapes for the natural elements like the sea grass and rocks.
My plan for my next environment piece was to draw the underwater market, but after completing the sketch and base colours, I wasn't feeling excited about drawing it so I pivoted to a new idea. Looking at our narrative, their are lots of ruins in this area and the mermaids who live here are all quite uncanny and unnatural looking, to match the theme of the strange combinations that the story revolves around. So I thought I would draw a ruin with a statue of a beautiful and elegant mermaid that has been destroyed to reflect this part of the city.
My process for drawing the statue was to use my usual process of adding details but following my previous environment work
and starting in grey scale. To give it the ruined feel I used overgrown plants and had the statue be shattered in places. I took inspiration from my Gris research again, especially in the background and vines, with the geometric and symmetrical shapes, but due to the ruin the perfect look they are supposed to have has been destroyed. For the statue, I made her wear a draping skirt to make it intentionally ambiguous if this is a human or a mermaid how you would typically picture them. I used gradient maps and colour layers to give everything a blue and purple colour as I imagine the light is coming from a crack in the ceiling, leading to the blue ocean light. I also added noise to the colour layers to add more texture.
I enjoyed trying different style approaches with the painting style, line art and illustrative style with each of these environment pieces. I also liked trying to capture a different mood in each one, from colourful and inviting in the reef to the overgrown ruins. My next job is working on UI, controller layouts and some game design.
UI and Game Design
For the games' UI designs, I am working on a mix of technological and futuristic style designs found in the submarine and menus that encompass the game as a whole. My plan is to make graphics for: the submarine upgrade skill tree, the diving suit upgrade screen, the npc selection screen, the gadget selection screen, the players health and energy bar, controller layout, accessibility screen and the title screen. From what game design we have discussed, I am also going to come up with what sort of things you can actually upgrade the submarine to do, such as pressure resistance, oxygen capacity, research improvements, deep sea lights etc. The same goes for what upgrades you can apply to the diving suit. These upgrades rely on material collection, inspired by slime science and the vacpac from the Slime Rancher games. To begin my final designs, I am going to start with the designs that would be overlays and not an entire menu like the health bar.
The design I came up with here combines the health and energy bar into one row. I was inspired by my initial design with the parallelogram boxes but added more of a queue to what each stat was representing. I kept this design quite simple as there will be lots else happening on the screen while these are visible so they aren't too distracting for the player. I opted to make the energy an oxygen indicator as it matches the plans for the submarine upgrades and adds makes it more thematic for the games environment. In practice the light colours
across the bar show how much you have and the dark areas show the amount lost. Next, I am going to work on some of the menu screens, which will be more detailed than this as it is the main focus.
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The first menu I made is the character selection screen, which I made four examples of using Emmy and Gracie's character designs and descriptions of personality. In the game, each time you go on a journey you get to select who comes with you and this can affect the outcome of events. Based on this, I made a notes section with a list of each persons specialties and personality, a bar graph indicating what they are best at out of the stats: research, charm, mechanics, perception and strength and lastly an approval chart to indicate how each person feels about you as a result of the decisions made in game. Visually, I was again inspired by the research on Lovers and Dispatch so chose to style it like a set of folders you can click through on a desktop using the arrow keys on the select button as well as having the visual of each person in the center.
This is the screen that would be used to upgrade your swim suit abilities: oxygen level, resistance and swim abilities. Oxygen level dictates how long you can be out and rely on your diving gear, resistance controls how deep you can go with how much pressure you can withstand as well as decreasing damage overall and swim abilities unlock new skills at each level such as increased speed and dark vision. In the example I made, it also show you having to make a certain amount of new discoveries in order to upgrade the suit. Both this and materials you find whilst swimming can be used at different stages and with different amounts to unlock upgrades. For the diving suit visual, I took an image of a real swimsuit and made some edits to it match the
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​holographic style that I reused from the character sheets for this screen. I think I will keep most of the in game selection and upgrade screens in this theme with the grid background and bright holographic style boxes and text.
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For the gadget screen, I took Emmy's work of her storage tank, the know-it-all and auditory drone gadgets and made them match the continuing theme in these selection screens. In this menu, you can jump between available gadgets using the arrows and the selected one will show up biggest on the screen with a glow and a box explaining what it does and how it could be beneficial on your journey depending on what you want to find out. In this case the storage tank lets you capture up to 20 ocean creatures you find and change the pressure of the water. I followed the same routine for the submarine upgrade screen, using Gracie's work of the fish shaped submarine that is the default state of the vessel. Each type of submarine has different special abilities but the fish submarine being the default just has the ability to increase its stats with the skill tree unlocks. To unlock and activate the abilities, you need a certain amount of materials or discoveries, the same way you upgrade the diving gear. You can see what is required to unlock the other submarine types and choose between the ones you have with the arrows. Since the unlocks are a skill tree, you have to start from the top left and can only unlock those adjacent to it. Now, I am going to make the title screen for the game with the main menu, games title and a graphic.
I decided to keep the title screen quite simple in the end so that the focus would be on the title and buttons to show the purpose of the screen before anything else. I wanted to focus on the bright ocean blues but also the ominous growing creature at the bottom of the ocean, so I used a gradient of colours to have the camera look like it is at the bottom of the sea. I took inspiration from Red's map for the wisps and tentacles on the black layer, reflecting this boss zone. In regards to the buttons, you have 'continue' to carry on with your current save, 'load saves' to open other saves or start a new game, 'options' to open settings and 'quit' to exit. Additionally, the Ocean Oddities logo is in the bottom which could be used to view the games' credits.
In regards to the options menu, I want there to be settings to help with accessibility. Below I have made a graphic of the standard controller and keyboard layouts for the game, but the keys can be rebound by player choice as well as things like sensitivity, game speed and haptics sliders having the ability to be adjusted as well. There could also be settings that allow the UI interfaces to be made more clear, such as resizing text and boxes, rearranging, changing colours to provide clearer contrast, text to speech and sound captions. In regards to game play, there can be different difficulty levels for the game that can control things like how much accuracy is needed for an action, more leeway on input timing and difficulty of the games encounters.
As mentioned before our game will have credits, for which I made a quick painting style drawing of the divide between the ocean and sky. I originally designed the logo here and picked a font that had a watery texture and added thickness and the circles to look like bubbles either side.
The credits list who in our group did what for all our design work as well as who was in charge of written and organisation parts of the project such as project manager, audience lead and story lead. This was organised by role rather than by person and put in alphabetical order. I also used Red's Ocean Oddities logo again on the final slide.
I enjoyed making the UI designs and getting inspired by other people in my groups work. Getting to make their designs into the selection screens and making it feel like something out of an actual game was really interesting. I also enjoyed trying the different styles for the technological submarine theme of the upgrades compared to the ocean focused start page and credits.
Final Evaluation
Individual Evaluation:
The brief for this project was to work as a group to design a vertical slice for a new Nintendo game. My research was focused on game design and ocean visuals, for which I looked into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Gris, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime and real world ruins. This helped me with visual elements for the environments I would later draw with the geometric shapes in Gris and the magical underwater atmosphere in E33 as well as taking inspiration from the space in Lovers. It also gave me ideas for game design such as how navigating the ocean in a submarine would work and what the UI and player choices for it could be like, both based on the futuristic space ship style in Lovers. I liked being able to use my own research and others to inform my design work and get some broader ideas and see new perspectives. Our final game concept was Amalgamation - a sci-fi exploration game following the crew of a submarine's descent to the bottom of the ocean. Focusing more on game design than I did in the last project was something I wanted to focus on this time and I think I was able to successfully do that. Especially with my focus on UI designs as along with those designs we had to discuss what the actual purpose of them was and why the player would be going through the screens. For my environment work, while I stayed in the same medium I tried a few different styles of digital drawing and approaches to colour and value. I liked doing this and learnt that I really enjoyed colouring in grey scale which is something I have never done in depth before this project and for the things I didn't enjoy as much, it was still an interesting thing to try. Similar to my previous project though, I do wish I had put more of a focus on animation because all I ended up doing was making the changing credit sequence. For example, I could have incorporated more in that sequence by having the waves moving or adding more interesting transitions between the text. Overall I am happy with the results of my work and getting to put all of my focus into two specific things - the environments and UI - was really enjoyable since I felt I was able to flesh everything out more than when I would have to focus on an entire story at once​.
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Group Work Evaluation:
I took on the role as team leader for this project which had both ups and downs. Overall, I think the group worked well together: everyone was on the same page about our games direction, everyone contributed something unique to the project and most people knew where their skills lied or what they wanted to try out in the project. The few issues I found were struggles with people showing their work or replying to messages. There were times where someone had said they were doing a certain piece of work and hadn't, or had done something and not told anyone or added it to the group page - especially when it came to uploading research. In our minuted meetings and through teams I was able to deal with most of these issues and find out what people had been doing and how they were progressing. Additionally, I had a few issues with telling someone what their job was and them not listening and saying they either didn't know what to do or doing something else that they weren't tasked with doing, even though everyone got to pick what they wanted to do. Also, there were some problems in the designing phase with people saying they were doing work but I actually had not seen anything be done. To manage this, I would leave to do lists on the group milanote, on the class teams and physically on our mind maps and in person, then if I saw no change I would chase that person up and either ask them to update one or update it myself. In the end everyone has been able to get their work done and I am very happy with the outcome of our full group project. I especially enjoyed getting to take others designs and make them into something as seen in game - such as Emmy and Gracie's submarine, gadget and character screens. I especially appreciated Emmy's help as she was leading lots of the writing - like the game design and audience analysis - and website organisation that wouldn't have been done without her and the information she wrote down helped everyone with their work. Overall, while there were some issues we were able to overcome them with the final work outcome being great quality.
Individual Reference List:
Asteroid Base (2015). Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime on Steam. [online] store.steampowered.com. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/252110/Lovers_in_a_Dangerous_Spacetime/.
Bresler, A. (2021). 9 Underwater Cities Only Scuba Divers Can Explore. [online] Matador Network. Available at: https://matadornetwork.com/read/9-underwater-cities-scuba-divers-can-explore/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2025].
Devèze, C. (2025). E33 Flying Waters Environments. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/carleaf.
Gris (2025). Chapters. [online] GRIS Wiki. Available at: https://gris.fandom.com/wiki/Chapter_4 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2025].
Nomada Studio (2018). GRIS on Steam. [online] store.steampowered.com. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/683320/GRIS/.
Reynaud, A. (2025). E33 Flying Waters Enemies. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8BEyZQ.
Sandfall Interactive (2025). E33 Logo Image. Gagadget.com. Available at: https://gagadget.com/en/674504-44-million-gamers-have-bought-clair-obscur-expedition-33-the-highest-rated-game-of-2025-is-seeing-great-sales/ [Accessed 25 Nov. 2025].
Severne Sails (2025). Wetsuit Outline. Severne Sails. Available at: https://share.google/bRgfB8uuxO5rKc44h [Accessed 14 Jan. 2026].